DE Weekly: Jaspers, Existenz, & the Encompassing
I have only mentioned the German-Swiss philosopher Karl Jaspers a few times by way of sharing his quotes in some newsletters over the years, but I have not dedicated an entire newsletter to him and his writings yet. Today, I’ll share a bit about this man whose influence on modern psychiatry and on Existentialism should not be overlooked.
Jaspers defined philosophy not as simply something we think about or write about in order to “understand” big ideas, rather, he believed philosophy was something we undertake as an “active search.”
DE Weekly: Nietzsche, The Greatest Weight, & Eternal Recurrence
“What if some day or night a demon were to steal into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life as you now live and have lived it you will have to live once again and innumerable times again; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unspeakably small or great in your life must return to you, all in the same succession and sequence––even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!’”
That idea comes to us in the shape of a thought experiment, under Aphorism 341, “The Greatest Weight,” from Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Gay Science; it is an idea that has come to be called “eternal recurrence.”
DE Weekly: Bad Faith, Sartre’s Waiter, & Who Are We?
I have mentioned Jean-Paul Sartre's idea of mauvaise foi––“bad faith”––in countless newsletters over the years, as it is a crucial concept to understand when discussing such Existentialist ideas as the burden of choice, authenticity, and radical freedom. But, what does bad faith actually look like in action? And, what are its consequences?
Sartre defines bad faith as a self-deception whereby we either convince ourselves or allow ourselves to be convinced that we lack the freedom necessary to escape the anxiety of being through exercising our personal responsibility to do so.
DE Weekly: Frank Jackson, Physicalism, & Mary’s Room
Last week, I wrote about Thomas Nagel’s 1971 essay “What Is It Like to Be A Bat?”. I emphasized how one of the conclusions of the essay is that we cannot fully understand everything if we use only a physicalist, materialist lens; some things require a deeper understanding of mind and consciousness.
Today, I’m going to introduce you to a thought experiment that reinforces this notion. It was invented by Australian philosopher Frank Jackson and is called “Mary’s Room.” It is one of the strongest challenges to reductionist physicalism and an interesting foray into the philosophy of mind.
DE Weekly: Nagel, the Mind-Body Problem, & What Is It Like to Be A Bat?
Earlier this year, I wrote about American philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1971 essay “The Absurd,” a work exploring the absurdity of life so central in Existentialism, arguing that we should take a “backward step” from our own perceptions to view the irony in our human condition.
I mentioned then that, although that essay is definitely interesting, I believe Nagel’s most interesting ideas have to do with consciousness and subjective experience.
DE Weekly: Purpose, Complete Responsibility, & the Meaning of Life
Perhaps the biggest question the philosophy of Existentialism aims to solve is, “What is the meaning of life?” Indeed, this question has been tried by all major philosophies and religions in one way or another. But, has it ever been truly answered?
Aristotle’s writings on the “human function” as it relates to aligning our souls with their highest capacity, St. Thomas Aquinas’s writings on working to achieve the beatific vision of Christ, and Immanuel Kant’s rationalism aiming for the highest good are just some answers posited to this question on the meaning of life.
DE Weekly: Existential Metaphysics, Phenomenology, & Acts of Consciousness
Last week, I wrote about existential aesthetics, or what it is that makes something existential in nature––art, novels, movies, songs, and everything in between. I would like to continue the conversation about existential aesthetics in this newsletter, specifically the metaphysics that define it, and art as an expression of human freedom.
At its core, existential aesthetics means to mirror certain aspects of human experience and existence. We are thrown into the world with no inherent or apparent meaning, forced to be the authors of our own lives. How do we do it?
DE Weekly: Art, Angst, & Existential Aesthetics
Sometimes, I will be reading something, or watching something, or I’ll simply see something and think to myself, “There is something existential about this.” Perhaps it is just me, and the amount of time I spend with the philosophy––but, I’ve seen others make similar observations, so maybe it is something inside of all of us to some degree.
Existentialism is called what it is because of its emphasis on existence: how humans exist and operate in the world as unique beings.
DE Weekly: Heidegger, Dostoevsky, & Authentic Being-for-Others
Over the past two weeks, I’ve written about the various writings and opinions of Existentialist authors who gave us a foundation for what could be called “existential ethics.”
Two weeks ago, I wrote about Emmanuel Levinas, who opined that we should treat ethics as “first philosophy,” meaning fundamentally underpinning our philosophy should be the obligation of ethical responsibility.
DE Weekly: Values, Moral Relativism, & Existential Ethics
Last week, I introduced Emmanuel Levinas, the twentieth-century French philosopher who posited ethics as “first philosophy.” To him, this meant that the force fundamentally underpinning all of philosophy is our ethical responsibility.
Before anything else, Levinas argued, we are first of all called into existence to be unconditionally obligated to serve others. Our first act as a Self, then, should be to consider the Other.